The symposium has the objective of sharing experiences in the development and strengthening of soft skills for employment. The purpose is to help to devise better strategies to improve the human capital of the labour force, especially of the youth, with a gender approach. Technical skills are not enough for work, transversal skills –the so-called “soft skills”, related to socioemotional competencies– for employability counts too, accounting for important returns and outcomes in the labor market. Soft skills shortages have been identified in a large number of APEC economies.

It will also be a chance to outline the next steps for the development of policies and protocols for highly effective functional work training programs (aimed to the socially vulnerable sectors). The proposal for the creation of an ‘APEC Knowledge Network on Best Practices for Employability Soft-Skills Development’ will be presented.